Social development

A rights group and journalist organization on Thursday slammed a lawmaker from Cambodia’s ruling party for barring an opposition MP from addressing the media with his concerns over a controversial draft law on nongovernmental organizations currently under review by parliament. ...

Unicef and the Ministry of Health have prepared four spots to raise awareness in the care of newborns and young children with illnesses. The ads, for radio and television, aim at improving the country’s high child mortality rate. ...

A ruling party lawmaker says pro-democracy and rights groups staging protests against a draft law at the National Assembly are trying to “topple the government.” On Wednesday, Chheang Vun, a lawmaker for the Cambodian People’s Party, said three days of protests over the draft are ...

Public and private universities are experiencing an exponential rise in the number of students opting for two-year associate degrees rather than four-year bachelor’s programs following last year’s disastrous high school exit examinations, education officials said yesterday. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced a woman and a man to 10 years in prison each on drug-trafficking charges after their arrest in Sen Sok district last year. ...

Despite government assurances that the controversial NGO draft law was still undergoing review, committees of the National Assembly said yesterday that the only revisions will be minor corrections to spelling and wording. ...

Despite the deployment of law enforcement officials across the capital in a bid to halt the demonstration, activists yesterday marched as promised to the National Assembly to protest the looming adoption of highly controversial union and NGO laws. Starting at about 8am, hundreds of land activists, ...

When an anti-human trafficking group recently reported a 73 percent drop in the sale of children for sex, another referenced its list of 15 establishments offering minors to predators as evidence to the contrary. ...

Unicef and the Cambodian government have launched a campaign to promote better health for children and newborns. Cambodia has made some progress improving the health of women and children, but a high rate of death for children remains a major concern. It saw its newborn mortality ...

As concern about the MERS virus’s spread mounts in the region, the Ministry of Health has ordered health workers in Siem Reap International Airport to use manual thermometers to screen passengers entering the Kingdom as the airport’s only ThermoScan unit is beyond repair. ...

With cases in the past six months more than doubled compared to last year, the Ministry of Health is urging Cambodians to exercise caution as the Kingdom builds toward an expected periodic dengue outbreak. ...

NGOs on Monday vowed to press ahead with a protest march through Phnom Penh on Tuesday against a draft law that threatens to rein in the country’s non-government groups and associations despite City Hall’s threat to stop them by “any means.” ...

Pro-democracy and rights groups in Cambodia have launched a three-day demonstration in an attempt to stop the passage of a law to regulate NGOs. The protest is expected to continue Tuesday. Organizers said that if they are not satisfied with the Assembly’s actions, they will ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeated that he will stand by the draft law on nongovernmental organizations currently under review by parliament, despite continued opposition by some groups which say the legislation would hinder their work in Cambodia. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen and minority leader of the National Assembly Sam Rainsy held talk this morning on the controversy of the draft of law on NGOs, Associations and Unions. ...

Ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) President and Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday appealed to foreign countries not to interfere in his country’s internal affairs over the establishment of the draft laws on Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Associations and on Trade Unions. ...

NGOs brought about 300 people together in front of the National Assembly on Sunday to protest the pending passage of a law that would force all non-government groups and associations in the country to register and file regular reports with the state. Critics of the draft ...

The U.S. State Department released its 39th annual human rights report on Friday, reviewing abuses against the citizens of 199 countries and painting a forensic picture of the shortcomings of the Cambodian government’s efforts to protect the rights of its population. Under the heading “Arbitrary or ...

An intensified campaign of religious and political persecution of Montagnards by security forces in Vietnam is responsible for more than 150 of the group fleeing to Cambodia, while authorities in both countries are working together to track down asylum seekers crossing the border, Human Rights ...

After last year’s crackdown on high school exit-exam cheats, the number of students who have registered to take the exam this August has dipped, but with new monitoring initiatives in place, education officials said they are optimistic the pass rate will increase. The 88,488 candidates planning ...

“Roasting”—a Cambodian tradition that sees new mothers lie on beds over a fire for several days in the belief it will scare off evil spirits and warm the body after giving birth—is one of many dangerous but deeply rooted practices that midwives and health practitioners ...

An interministerial committee has been established to once again investigate the assassinations of Free Trade Union leaders Chea Vichea, Hy Vuthy and Ros Sovannareth between 2004 and 2007, according to a government decree obtained Thursday. ...

The director of a Phnom Penh children’s NGO arrested over allegations of abuse was released from police custody on Wednesday due to a lack of evidence, police said yesterday. ...

Three activists from the environmental NGO Mother Nature and a human rights monitor were detained in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district for about three hours Thursday after City Hall deemed a planned march to the National Assembly illegal. ...